Thoughts on Life, Love, Politics, Hypocrisy and Coming Out in Mid-Life

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Virginia is Back at the Center of the Political Universe - Vote Northam

Our home - Ralph Northam Hampton get out the vote operations

Living in Virginia can be politically exhausting given the fact that we have important elections every year, not that many voters seem to pay much attention. Getting out the vote is a never ending task year after year and the husband and I find ourselves on numerous host committees for fundraisers. This year's Democrat primary for the 2017 gubernatorial candidate is no exception. WE ARE BACKING RALPH NORTHAM in every way that we can (Perriello is very weak on LGBT rights issues, not to mention that he's changed his position on almost every issue). Last weekend and and again from yesterday through Tuesday night (Tuesday is the actual primary) our home is the Hampton base for the Northam get out the vote effort in this city. We have had literature drop volunteers in and out of the house and phone banking volunteers here from morning to night (the first will arrive today at 8:00 am) with our kitchen staged with food and snacks for all of the volunteers. The husband and I have even been filmed for a Ralph Northam campaign ad that will run at some point. What is maddening is how so few people seem to be paying attention despite the huge impact the occupant of the Governor's mansion has on everyday life. As the Washington Post notes, all of the campaigns are faced with voter in attention. Here are excerpts:

On
Tuesday, Virginians will pick one Republican and one Democrat to go
head-to-head in November’s election for governor. The contest is shaping up to
be the nation’s first competitive statewide race of the Trump era. But it’s
more than that.

The
outcome could point the way forward for two major political parties torn by
populist ­establishment infighting. It will test whether the forces rocking
Washington will consume state-level races. And it will show whether Democratic
fury at Trump materializes at the polls — something that could turn the 2018
midterms into a wave election.

But first comes
the primary. And canvassers for the three Republicans and two Democrats
competing for the nominations are finding an electorate that seems largely
tuned out.

“I tend to think the worst possible place for a candidate to become known
is in the middle of the Donald Trump presidency,” said Stephen J. Farnsworth, a
political scientist at the University of Mary Washington. “News out of
Washington has become an extraordinary obsession these last six months, and
that makes it virtually impossible even for candidates for governor to get all
that much media and public attention.”

About a month before the primary, fewer than 2 in 10 Democratic-leaning
and Republican-leaning voters said they were paying “very close” attention to
the governor’s race, and a significant number were undecided, aWashington Post-Schar School pollfound.

“All these
things at the national level have sucked all the local energy out of the room,”
said Sharma, who after a little research settled on Northam.

The outcome of the Democratic contest will hinge on turnout, political
strategists say. Northam would benefit from a smaller electorate made up of
longtime party stalwarts, who skew older. A surge of young people and
progressives inflamed against Trump could help Perriello. Both campaigns are
chasing the African American vote, which could make up as much as
25 percent of the electorate.

The Democratic race probably will turn on the voter-rich Washington
suburbs, where neither Northam nor Perriello has a natural base. Northam is
from the Eastern Shore; Perriello is from Charlottesville.

Voter
participation always drops sharply in Virginia’s off-year elections, especially
for late-spring primaries. In 2008, nearly a million voters cast ballots in
Virginia’s Democratic presidential primary. The next year, just 319,168
Democrats, or 6.3 percent of registered voters, turned out for the party’s
hard-fought primary for governor.

This is the
first time in Virginia history that both parties are holding contested primary
elections for governor on the same day, said Geoffrey Skelley of the University
of Virginia Center for Politics. (Some years, the parties opt for nominating
conventions instead.) That could help boost turnout.

Skelley sees signs of life on the Democratic side, with requests for
absentee ballots twice as high in that party’s primary as in the Republican
contest. Voters have requested nearly as many absentee ballots for Tuesday’s
Democratic primary as they did for their party’s March 2016 presidential
primary — 26,783 this year compared with 28,412, according to theVirginia Public Access Project. Republicans have requested
13,882 ballots compared with 27,569 for the March 2016 presidential primary.

The lopsidedness
could reflect the relative competitiveness of the Democratic contest: Polls
show Northam and Perriello in a tight race while Gillespie has enjoyed a
double-digit lead over Stewart and Wagner.

In the homestretch, the candidates are trying to stay visible and get
their voters to the polls. Each campaign takes a different approach, depending
on financial resources, political ties — and the personalities of the
candidates. The contrast is most stark
among the Republicans.

On the
Democratic side, the financial picture is also lopsided — Northam had
$1.3 million available as of June 1, while Perriello had $734,000 — but
both have enough to air TV ads.

Both also have big-name backing. Northam has a lock on Virginia’s elected
Democrats while Perriello has nationally prominent progressives.

Northam’s
team can count on canvassers from the state’s gun control, abortion rights and
gay rights groups as well as the state’s Democratic heavy hitters: on Saturday,
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) gathered with Warner and Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) to
launch door-knockers for Northam across Northern Virginia.

As all five
campaigns make their final push, some see an opportunity in those blank stares.

“There are people who are saying ‘I don’t even know about the
candidates,’ ” said Brown, Stewart’s Shenandoah Valley field director. “They
can be persuaded. . . . You can rally some people into going and voting.”

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Out gay attorney in a committed relationship; formerly married and father of three wonderful children; sometime activist and political/news junkie; survived coming out in mid-life and hope to share my experiences and reflections with others.
In the career/professional realm, I am affiliated with Caplan & Associates PC where I practice in the areas of real estate, estate planning (Wills, Trusts, Advanced Medical Directives, Financial Powers of Attorney, Durable Medical Powers of Attorney); business law and commercial transactions; formation of corporations and limited liability companies and legal services to the gay, lesbian and transgender community, including birth certificate amendment.

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